Ocean Pines Eagle Scout leads effort to build shelter

(Feb. 3, 2023) Local Eagle Scout Christian Martin recently helped produce almost 20 shelters as part of a project to help homeless cats in the area.

Martin said he was looking for a new service project and thought of local nonprofit group Town Cats, which formed in 1998 to help address the feral cat problem in nearby Ocean City.

“I’ve known Miss Susan [Mohler], the president of Town Cats, for several years,” he said. “And for two or three years now, I’ve been helping them at their yard sales and at the farmers markets at White Horse Park,” he said.

After contacting Town Cats, Martin said the group asked for help building cat shelters.

Martin and Mohler met in the Ocean Pines Community Center to talk about the process, and they planned another session at the community center in mid-December to do the work.

“I also made it available so younger people could come and help, if they needed service-learning hours, which is a requirement to graduate high school,” Martin said. “In the end, we had 26 volunteers.”

Martin said the shelters are “like a miniature apartment home” for cats, giving them a haven from the elements.

“It helps keep them warm during the winter and cool during the summer,” he said.

Mohler created a PowerPoint on how to build the shelters, which Martin turned into an instruction booklet for the volunteer session.

To make the shelters, volunteers cut entrance and exit holes into 20gallon lidded storage bins that are then outfitted with Styrofoam, straw, insulation tape, and a mylar recovery blanket.

“There’s an entrance and an emergency exit hole, with a backflap on the emergency exits in case the cat feels trapped,” Martin said. “It’s kind of like a giant, warm igloo.”

Mohler said Town Cats donated all the supplies, but Martin did all the organizing, from booking the room to creating an online signup sheet for volunteers.

She said the volunteers made 16 shelters, about half of which were claimed within the first week.

“The shelters are placed in designated places where people take care of outside cats,” Mohler said.

“People can ask for them if they have

See EAGLE Page 47 owner. Landowners can continue to farm, harvest timer and hunt as well as reserve building rights for future use.

It is the responsibility of the land trust to visit each site once a year and that is a lot for a small staff to manage. So, the land trust hosts a training for volunteers every year who want to become land stewards.

This year’s training is Feb. 11, with an advanced training for experienced stewards on March 1 and a field training on March 3 and 4.

Once trained, volunteers visit the easements, meet with landowners and promote best practices. They meet with the staff before the visit and learn about the property. The trust provides continuing educational materials and training to the landowner. Volunteers are trained to complete the specific reporting that is required for each easement. All volunteers are joined by staff or another experienced volunteer on the visit.

Patton said people can choose whether they want to visit a few properties or many.

“This is a great way to get out and see some nice properties,” Patton said. “One of my favorite properties has old growth beech trees. A lot of birders are in our group. The landowners love to hear what birds are on their property.”

“Once people start volunteering for this program, they pretty much stick around,” she said. “We have about 15 people a year.”

To sign up for the Land Stewardship Trainings, visit https://lowershore-land-trust.dm.networkforgood .com/forms/in-house-stewardshiptraining-registration.